Fox's "Business News" People Stand Alone in Their Interpretation of Why the Dow Rose This Week

The Dow Jones Industrial Average set a record this week because corporate profits and economic reports were better than expected. Period. But according to the "business news" people at Fox News, it rose because America is so extraordinarily great, that even in the face of the Virginia Tech tragedy, the economy did not come to a grinding halt.

Fox's "senior business news correspondent," Brenda Buttner teased the segment on her way to a break this morning (April 21, 2007) on Bulls & Bears:

When word of the shootings hit, horror and grief, but also criticism as some used this tragedy to bash America as a nation on a steep moral decline. But that wasn't everywhere. Why Wall Street sent a v-e-r-y different and dramatic message.

After the break, Buttner continued over a chyron that read: The Markets' Message About America in a Time of Tragedy:

Well, [big sigh] it didn't take them long. Within hours of the Virginia Tech massacre the blame-America gang was in rare form. Much of that chorus coming from overseas, but Wall Street sent a very different message. As we were coming to grips with this tragedy, the Dow soared, hitting a new all-time high. It's now within 50 points of 13,000. Toby, what message do you think Wall Street's sending?

We said, darn it, you know, we're not going to let something like this stop us because we know what a great country, what our system is, it's never going to be perfect but that's one of the messages I think Wall Street sent this week.

I think the message the market is sending is that, ah, America adapts. ... I think the market was sending a message of hope.

Bob Froehlich of DWS Scudder (i.e., he's not on the Fox News payroll), said Wall Street was saying that, "we have the most resilient stock market in the world."

Tracy Byrnes, a News Corp. employee by way of being a "business writer" for the New York Post said, "We're survivors and that's what the market is saying. ... The American spirit cannot be killed."

And last but certainly not least came Pat Dorsey, a Certified Financial Advisor and a writer for Morningstar.com, who told the audience the truth:

The market is amoral. The market does not care about tragedies unless they affect our economy. ... This event...had no effect on the economy whatsoever and corporate earnings were good. That's why the market was up this week.

Comment: Throughout this segment Fox aired a split screen: One screen - which continuously showed video from the day of the Virginia Tech killings - was 2/3 larger than the other screen, which showed the faces of the panelists. So I guess the message was typical of Fox: You go America but be very afraid. Daddy Bush is in charge for now, but then again, if the America-bashers (like the "Democrat" party) have their way with "moral decline" stuff, like gun control or spending your tax dollars on mental health counseling for wimps who are so weak that they let themselves become mass murderers, the economy might not be able to withstand another VTech, which of course, rivaled 9/11 for its potential to destroy the U.S. economy.